The field of popular music studies has long been interested in the relationships between record labels and the music they make available to consumers. At the micro level, research on record labels provides insight into the tensions between art and commerce and those between individuals and institutions. At the macro level, this research illuminates changes in socio-economic trends, music industry structures and structural inequalities. A meta-analysis of this literature reveals an ‘indie prejudice’: a preference for (and even a bias in favour of) independent labels coupled with a dismissive approach to the study of major labels and musical mainstreams that impacts our ability, as a scholarly field, to speak with authority about the largest segments of the commercial record industries. What larger implications for our scholarship might confronting this prejudice reveal? What master narratives have structured popular music studies’ preference of independent over major record labels? In this article, I argue that the art/commerce dichotomy has remained influential, although it can have unintended and dangerous side effects if it becomes a guiding assumption.

Over the past few years Mr. Polska, a Dutch rapper of Polish origin, has been enjoying a growing popularity in the Netherlands. Mr. Polska uses his Polish roots to position himself on the Dutch music scene and creates a persona that leans heavily on essentialised and exoticised stereotypes about Poland and the Polish. This article tries to answer two questions: what kind of image of Poland and the Poles is being created here? What purpose does it serve? It argues that negative stereotypes used in a multicultural environment acquire a new, positive meaning and play an important role in building the artist's image. The article further explores the post-subcultural character of Mr. Polska's project. It demonstrates that Mr. Polska's objective is not so much political engagement, as was usually the case with the traditional subcultural scene, but rather to confirm his authenticity and build his subcultural capital. Finally, Mr. Polska's use of a hip-hop aesthetic in combination with exoticised Polishness will be discussed.